“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3
While at the Museum of Discovery I saw this picture and I thought…never in my life would I have thought that something that was started back in the late 1800’s radiation would be a part of my life. Yet her willingness to test and try is being used today to shrink/kill my tumors. Thank you Lord for giving Marie the wisdom to begin this!
Weekends are a good break for me. No appointments and just time to do some more normal type things. We were extremely blessed this weekend because my sister, Alissa and her husband Randy (and their 4 kids) came for a visit. My sister moved to Dallas a few years ago (is that right?????) and now we will go there for soccer tourneys and just to visit when we can. Her four kids are under 5 and so they love to follow their older cousins around and do what “big kids do.” My sister is also pregnant with TWIN girls! So super cool how both of us will have twin daughters. She is due the end of September. So please pray for her as the girls develop that everything goes exactly as it should. Pray for her as she and Randy desire to raise these kids to love the Lord most.
She was sweet to bring me some homemade oils to try and some really good homemade granola. You wouldn’t believe what she can accomplish even with all those little in tow. I got a little adventurous and we went to the Museum of Discovery Saturday for a couple of hours. Course I love to watch the amazement of anyone who sees something they think is really cool. For my nephews and niece it was pretty much every couple of minutes.
I have to admit, UGH I’m probably not sleeping the best so I was probably a little more tired than I wanted to be so when we got home so, yes I laid down for a bit. We let the kids run through the sprinklers and try the slip and slide. All the while I’m just taking it all in .. these are memories and moments we won’t get again and these kids grow up fast!
The clan left to go back to the hotel because everyone was tired – it’s hard to not nap! Scott’s boss John Shrewsbury and wife Debbie, who live around the corner from us picked us up in their boat right before our neighborhood fireworks started. It was a different view on the water and just a bit more restful than on the shore. I am thankful that they have come to visit with us and pray with us about all of this. It’s great to know that Scott has such a special group of people that he works with.
I love Sundays…. I love them more now than I used to really. I love to get up get in the Word and then head to church and worship. To REALLY WORSHIP. I love to see my kids worship, the other students worship… and honestly I just want to jump up on the pews sometimes and just spin around because the God of the universe has done so many amazing things in my life! Don’t worry I restrain myself…a bit 🙂 HA
As I studied this morning…of course God wanted to teach me something and showed up to teach me. I am so thankful for that everyday. I literally lay in bed and try to be a good patient, rest a bit longer but, I’m giddy and raise my arm and say- in my head -since Scott may be asleep still, “It’s almost time…I can’t wait… here I am and I’m ready..bring it on!” I get up and start bringing my bag full of studying things, my water, coffee, my juice, my breakfast and my medicine and sit in the presence of the Lord on my deck. It is the most glorious place on the earth for me.
That was all a side note to what the Lord showed me today… 🙂 . Get yourself a place, a schedule and a routine and expect the Lord to teach you something. He wants to…trust me!
“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.” Psalms 149:1
I am still studying 2 Kings and Hezekiah, who I mentioned yesterday was in a bit of bind. I honestly was a little upset with him as he was making deals with the Assyrian king to give him bits and pieces of the temple. I thought Hezekiah, where’s the trust, what are you doing? The Assyrian king brought his thoughts to the king and the people, mocking the Lord and trying to get the people to not trust Hezekiah as king. Honestly, things weren’t looking good for the people of Judah.
Hezekiah got the report from his staff and his response …
2 Kings 19:1 “When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord.”
He gathered his close team and sent them to Isaiah because he was in such distress about what was going on. Isaiah sent a message back…
2 Kings 19:5-7 “After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah the prophet replied, “say to your master “This what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen I myself will move against him…”
Hezekiah got messages from the surrounding kings and leaders basically questioning his thought to believe that God would give him victory. They brought doubt and made him think. So what did he do with this new information?
2 Kings 19:14-19
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
Hezekiah’s response – Go straight to the Lord, humble himself, layout all his worries and struggles and then he poured out his desires before the Lord. I just love that his heart wasn’t “deliver us so that we succeed. deliver us so we win.” But he asked to be delivered so that the kingdoms of the earth may know that YOU ALONE, LORD are GOD.” Love this. When we seek to be delivered from difficulty or hardship, why are we asking? What if our prayers were like Hezekiah’s – SO THAT THE WHOLE EARTH would KNOW that YOU are GOD! Lord make that our battle cry!
Isaiah blessed Hezekiah with words from the Lord to let him know what was about to happen going forward. The word of the Lord was spoken against the Assyrian king and he was about to be brought down, hard. His sons would eventually kill him. But, before that the Lord promised a special warrior. The angel of the Lord went into the Assyrian camp and in one night killed 185,000 soldiers. Those that survived woke up and saw the corpses and decided it was time to get out of town.
The Lord sent 1 angel to battle an entire army. I’ve mentioned on here before that I have a couple angels that are in my treatment room with me – I don’t know now, maybe the Lord has given me only one and that’s all I need. I love to lay there and just imagine them doing what they do to battle my tumors and declare complete victory in the end! I just love the picture of what is going on that I cannot even see.
Hezekiah had completely put his trust in the Lord and he knew that he himself could not be victorious. He laid his requests before the Lord and surrendered his fears and desires and rested in the Lord’s hands. He desired for the whole earth to see the Lord for who He is and that was his heart’s focus. In the end he wasn’t asked to fight, God fought for him with his own angel and Hezekiah and the people were freed.
I shared this on Facebook this morning and Instagram but, it goes with this so well today and you may not have seen it.
This is me just on my bed raising my hand, jumping for joy and praising God! I had not read this yet when I was already raising my arm in victory this morning. I’m praising my Father all day, but I am also standing ready. I am ready to battle anything the devil wants to try and feed me to turn me away. The Lord has given me His Word and promise to never leave me or forsake me. The devil will not have one moment of time…I am a determined warrior and this battle belongs to the LORD!
Thank you fellow warriors for your prayers. I am blessed by all of you:
- Pray for my continued energy. Sometimes ugh….I get tired. I am asking for better sleep at night so I can be rested for the day
- Great peace during treatment this wee
- Continued flushing of all this junk out of my body. I’ve noticed my face is probably retaining fluid some – so yes my face is rounder. It’s just more Jesus in me… right?
- I have a full day of dr appts on Thursday. So just pray that I ask the right questions and that everything is looking just like it should at this point.